Happy Friday, everyone!
By the time you read this, I will be tucked away in a cabin with a bunch of girlfriends (and without wifi!) deep in the heart of Arkansas for a long weekend at the lake. And oh man, I’ve been looking forward to this trip for weeks! The plan for the weekend is to blissfully not have a plan, and just spend the weekend relaxing by the lake and sleeping in and cozying up with good books and cooking together and drinking lots of good wine late into the fall evenings and just enjoying the chance to spend days and days off the grid hanging out together.
“Ultimate comfort”, as my friend, Michelle, would call it.
Well on that note, I thought I would leave you with an ultimate comfort food recipe for the weekend while I’m away. As the weather is getting chillier, and everyone is arriving home ready for a warm meal, it seemed only appropriate that we kick off fall soup season with a classic — homemade chicken noodle soup.
Although my favorite way to make this soup is with an herby, aromatic, delicious twist that I think you will all love.
Who’d like some rosemary chicken noodle soup? :)
When it comes to comfort food, I’m pretty sure that good ol’ chicken soup for the soul is always a good idea.
I love it on chilly evenings, I love it even when it’s warm, I love ordering it out at restaurants, I love making a big pot at home on the stove, I loved popping open the ol’ cans of it back in college, and I love experimenting with fresh and healthier versions today, I love it when I’m sick, I love it when I’m feeling great, I love making a big batch to freeze, I love sharing steaming hot bowls with friends.
Basically, as they said so well on SNL, IloveitIloveitIloveit. :)
But as much as I indiscriminately love all chicken noodle soup, I have discovered over the years that my favorite way to make it involves one simple tweak — lots and lots and lots of fresh rosemary.
(Well, I strongly recommend fresh rosemary if you can get your paws on it. But dried rosemary — or if you must go dried, I highly recommend using powdered rosemary in order to avoid the little spiky needles — will also work.)
Traditional chicken noodle soup recipes usually use at least a hint of rosemary, usually mixed with thyme. But my version is all rosemary, all the way. It’s fragrant and woodsy flavor gives an unexpected (yet subtle) kick to traditional chicken noodle soup. And every time I make it, people love it and always ask about the “secret” ingredient.
So simple! Yet so deliciously satisfying. :)
The other great thing about this particular recipe is that it can be ready to go from start to finish in about 30 minutes. My kind of recipe! I tend to take shortcuts by using high-quality organic chicken stock (very important — I recommend Trader Joe’s, Swanson’s, or Kitchen Basics) and I shred a rotisserie chicken while the soup is coming to a boil to save time (although you could also use any pre-cooked chicken like my slow cooker shredded chicken).
Feel free to also sub in your favorite kind of noodles. I went traditional with some wide egg noodles, but whole-wheat pasta, or even gluten-free noodles would also work well.
However you make it — if you love fresh rosemary and you love a big ol’ bowl of chicken noodle soup — I think this one may be just the soup for you this winter. Enjoy, friends!
Rosemary Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small white onion, peeled and diced
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery, ends trimmed and diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 8 cups (64 ounces) good-quality chicken stock
- 3-4 stalks *fresh rosemary (or more/less to taste)
- 6 ounces wide egg noodles (or use gluten-free noodles if making this GF)
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
- salt and pepper
- (optional: chopped fresh parsley for garnish)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add carrots and celery and saute for another 3-4 minutes, or until the carrots are softened a bit. Add garlic and saute for an additional 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add chicken stock and stir until combined. Gently stir the rosemary into the soup, then continue cooking until the soup reaches a simmer. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer for an additional 5 minutes until the broth has your desired level of rosemary flavor. (You can add in more rosemary if needed.)
- Once the broth is ready, remove the rosemary, and stir in the egg noodles and chicken. Continue cooking for 8-10 minutes or until the egg noodles are al dente. (The longer they cook, the more broth they will soak up. Feel free to add more chicken stock if desired.) Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve warm, garnished with extra black pepper and fresh parsley if desired.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
I loved this soup. I made it with leftover turkey and it came out great.
My 12 year old daughter and I made this with GF noodles for dinner last night when expecting out of town guests (we also made creamy tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches). Everyone loved this soup! It is on my families favorite list. I enjoyed that it was easy to make and my second born, who is learning to cook, can make this and add it to her own recipe collection. Thank you so much for putting this recipe up and allowing me to enjoy chicken noodle soup again.
I made this. I loved the freshness of the ingredients and used fresh rosemary!
I just made this recipe and oh my! It was amazing! My picky 2 year old was obsessed. She even ate all the veggies :)
We’re so happy you and your little one enjoyed it! :)
How many does this recipe serve? Thanks
This serves about 8.
I made this tonight for my family. Absolutely love it, very delicious! Will be making again and again!
We’re so glad you and your family enjoyed it, Lexie!
Hi,
How would I freeze this? Without the noodles?
Kim
Hi Kim! Yes, we would recommend freezing it without the noodles if you can (it will still be fine if you do freeze it with them, they’ll just hold up a bit better if you don’t). We hope this helps and that you enjoy!
Made this last Friday for dinner and it was delicious. Husband loved it ^_^. I will make this again.
Thanks for sharing with us Sandy — we’re so glad you both enjoyed it!
I wanted to say – this soup is phenomenal. All of us had had quite enough of canned cream of ingredient soup….to the point of being grossed out by the thought of soup. I got a copy of this in my email one day and figured I would give it a shot. It gets requested….my son has a cold today & when I asked what he wanted for dinner, this was it. So, thank you!
You’re welcome Sheila — we’re so happy you and your son enjoyed this — we hope he feels better soon! :D
I made this about a month ago, and it was sooo good! It is like a “classic” chicken noodle soup, only much better. The fresh rosemary really makes it something special, and unlike the canned soup of my childhood made by a famous soup company, I did not need an electron microscope to find a few tiny cubes of meat! One small change I made was to use extra-wide noodles instead of wide, for a somewhat more rustic look. And since I cook turkeys year-round as an inexpensive source of protein and always keep shredded turkey in 2-cup baggies in the freezer to use in soups, I used 2 cups of shredded turkey and incorporated 2 cups of homemade turkey stock as part of the broth. (Couldn’t be easier: I just throw the turkey in a cooking bag and roast following the cooking bag’s directions. When it’s done I’ve got a big hunk of nicely moist turkey for which I find all kinds of uses, especially soups.) There are times in life when the only thing that will do is a bowl of chicken (or turkey) noodle soup. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Thanks for sharing Diane — we’re happy to hear you enjoyed this! And we bet those extra-wide noodles looked/tasted awesome in this, as well as the turkey (and omg, homemade turkey stock is unreal)! :D